Porterville wins big
Porterville High School’s girls soccer team did their best not to run up the score on Granite Hills in Tuesday night’s 5-0 shutout.
Porterville High School’s girls soccer team did their best not to run up the score on Granite Hills in Tuesday night’s 5-0 shutout.
“I don’t like to run up the score on anybody,” said Porterville coach Cruz Rivera. “We win with class. Honor first, win or lose.”
Valeria Rios led the Panthers in scoring at Rankin Stadium with four goals on the night, more goals than she scored in her previous three games combined.
“She’s a phenomenal player,” said Cruz, “very skilled. Very proud of her, been with her for four years already. She’s going on to do bigger and better things hopefully.”
Midway through the first half, Vanessa Tadeo came down the middle with the ball and scored first for the Panthers. A little over 10 minutes later, Rios would score her first of four goals to put Porterville (1-2-1) up 2-0 at the end of the half.
Although they started out the game well, the Grizzlies struggled for much of the game. They had a hard time creating scoring opportunities and were not communicating much with each other while on the field.
Nothing was rushed for the Panthers who were in a new lineup. They played controlled and aggressive with coach Cruz saying he felt “comfortable” with the way they controlled the ball.
“I think we played very well today,” said Cruz. “We’re trying a new lineup. We’re going to a 4-3-3 so we’re trying everybody at different positions. I’m pleased with the outcome.”
Another problem for the Grizzlies, was when goalie Ismenis Hernan-
dez went down in the first half with barely seven minutes played in the game. After coming out of the goal to stop a score, Hernandez slid knee first into a Porterville player and was carried off the field by Granite Hills coach Chris Ross.
Katie Staley went in for Hernandez and had six saves in the first half.
In the second half, Rios scored twice in the first four minutes. The first came in the first 30 seconds and the second came near the four-minute mark after Granite Hills’ Hernandez’s block was kicked in. Rios also scored the team’s last goal less than halfway through the half.
Coach Ross called the loss “discouraging” and said that the team will be changing things up for the tournament this weekend in Corcoran.
“The girls played as hard as they could,” said Ross. “It [just] showed that we have some things to work on.”
The win was Porterville’s first of the season. They play again on Friday in Strathmore’s tournament.